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“You’re actually teaching Lost Girls?” was the surprised reaction from one of my colleagues after examining my list of readings for a summer topics course focused on the works of Alan Moore. Had I lost my mind in including such a controversial work in my reading list? After all, shortly after I requested a copy be added to our campus library’s collection, Lost Girls raised eyebrows among the acquisition staff and even went missing from the shelves (only to turn up a week later in a forlorn corner of the stacks). Yes, I explained to my colleague that I felt I had to include Moore’s effort, which he created in collaboration with artist Melinda Gebbie, to produce a work of pornography—not for its sensational value but because it represented an important step in the evolution of the writer, demonstrating the risks he was willing to take as he explored yet one more unorthodox storytelling venue in a career characterized by atypical stories. “You’re actually teaching Lost Girls?” was the surprised reaction from one of my colleagues after examining my list of readings for a summer topics course focused on the works of Alan Moore. Had I lost my mind in including such a controversial work in my reading list? After all, shortly after I requested a copy be added to our campus library’s collection, Lost Girls raised eyebrows among the acquisition staff and even went missing from the shelves (only to turn up a week later in a forlorn corner of the stacks). Yes, I explained to my colleague that I felt I had to include Moore’s effort, which he created in collaboration with artist Melinda Gebbie, to produce a work of pornography—not for its sensational value but because it represented an important step in the evolution of the writer, demonstrating the risks he was willing to take as he explored yet one more unorthodox storytelling venue in a career characterized by atypical stories